Monthly Archives: October 2010

Over the years I have popped in to Chica and Jo many times. The always have great, easy, interesting and FUN crafts, usually very child friendly and often very economical.

I love this Halloween wreath made from googly eyes – so cute:

and on the topic of wreaths, I also really like the idea behind the clothes peg one for Thanksgiving (ok, so not big in the UK, but still, it would rather fit a harvest theme) although I would probably do it with maybe scrapbook paper rather than paint.

And you know how fond I am of my iPad covers – check out their Kindle covers! Very cute, very functional, great directions, including a little video….Fab.

Check it out – I think you will find lots there to add to your To Do list of craft projects.

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Somehow I messed up the Friday post so here I am, on a Saturday (not very common, I know) posting about what kept me busy last week:

Stockwell Farm is a lovely old stone farmhouse in Powys. It was rustic, and remote, and made for very lazy days.

On the way back (well, “on the way” is a bit of a misnomer – more like we made a detour) we popped in to Stourhead Gardens. WOW. Wish we had gotten an earlier start and had a slightly drier visit, but it was stunning.

In any case it was a pleasant and relaxing week with very little getting done. Just what was needed.

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Ok, so I am hugely limited in what I can do on an iPad, in the middle of Wales, on a MiFi connection! Can’t comment on 4 out of 5 Ive tried, so it’ll have to wait a day or two. On to my WoyWW…

It’s another one of those “I’m not about” WOYWW Wednesday so it looks a lot like LAST Wednesday except an opinion is sought. The sort of glimpse of the project not-anywhere-near-done, with both the altered skull seen last week and the black and white ne as it comes out of the packaging, will help YOU help ME – which looks better?
The old-bone coloured altered one?

OR the black & white one straight from the packaging?

I know my life has been hectic over the last month, and my hit rate on WOYWW comments stinks at the moment, but if you see this, please make your choice known. I honestly cannot decide one way or the other.

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DD has wanted a “real doll” for a while now, one that is big, with “real” hands (ie defined fingers rather than mitten-like pseudo-hands) and a real girl shape.

This is what lies beneath (my desk):

with an idea towards becoming this:

Today’s someplace-else is the doll-making site that I love best. Runo Dollmaker has great patterns, great tips of making anime dolls and indeed cloth dolls of all kinds, and I really, really love her site. Check it out.

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As the in-laws are here all week (and then some) and it’s term break for the kids AND it’s DDs birthday, regular blogging is suspended for a bit. But I am going to do a “someplace else” post each day to interest and amuse, I hope, focusing on doable projects where possible. Today a fabric album by Elizabeth Kartcher who designs as Dear Lizzy.

I seem to be thwarted as to how to add an image from a URL on an iPad. And by how to scroll through the categories. Hummm. Seems this was not a problem before and now it is.

I’ll figure it out and see….

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I have to admit I am loving, but struggling with, digital stamps. I love that you can resize them, love that you can get a perfect image every time, but hate that (at least with my printer) you can’t emboss them and that the ink from the printer will bleed sometimes. I’m sure that my printer is the issue, but am not in a position to change it at the moment. Oh well.

I am also struggling with cardstock – I read a lot online about the best cardstock to use for Copic colouring, but I don’t think the card I tend to see praised is easily available here off the shelf. I got some someplace, store brand, maybe from Staples, that was great – no bleeding, thick enough but not too thick – and some that was on sale from WH Smith that is hopeless. It seems the GSM is NOT the key. Higher GSM does not mean better for stamping and colouring. I saw some special Manga pads at Hobby Craft that they say are specifically for alcohol-ink based markers but it was something like £7 for a pretty small pad. Ugh.

So as I am finding more and more digital images I love, I clearly have to devote some time to this, but not till after the in-laws leave, after the school holidays, and after DDs 14th birthday and the last LAST LAST EVER doll. Ha ha, I scoff. How many times have I said that in the last year??

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Another huge mess, and another House of Cards, this one with a Halloween theme! Yep – it’s WOYWW time again!

I love the Karnival specialty deck, with its skeletons in top hats! The skull is a £-shop special, painted, although I may opt for the other one, which is more black than bleached bone, as it goes better with the cards, or I may highlight the one here with a bit more white. I’ll decide when I am putting it all together.

If you saw my Sunday-someplace-else you will recognize the Octopde Factory digital stamps – I just love those guys!

Finally got to the new Hobby Craft in Basingstoke – so glad not to have to trek to Reading every time I need the odd bit. I found some great big wooden beads to use as the feet on this house for 55p (for 6 of them) I know HC is often thought of as being quite expensive, but just having one close by for a quick stop when you need something in a hurry s a boon. Looked at Promarkers (they don’t do Copics, mores the pity) and thought £10 for a pack was more than I have seen them for before (I’m sure I got a pack at some pont for under £6 for 6 of them!) and MS punches for £23 is def. more than I saw them for at the stamp show I went to a couple of months back, but still, proximity does goe some way towards mitigating the bigger sticker price, when you just can’t stand to wait for an internet order to come.

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The in-laws arrive for 3 weeks on Saturday and while the house is in fairly decent shape after the blitz necessitated by the BBC filming, there are still a few nooks and crannies (and closets and cabinets!) that need attention. Who knows what my blogging will be like over the next month? But I have one last layout that I finished after the crop and wanted to at least share that.

I love this paper and the bright colours. Still exploring the over-stuffed look, and using up bits and bobs that have been hoarded for too long:

Humm. not the sharpest of photos, but it’s been so dark here and the low-energy bulbs just don’t work. But I think you can get enough of a sense of it I may re-photograph it but at the moment I am also trying to locate and scan photos of DD pre-digital for the CIN spot so it’ll have to wait.